asked the Minister for Supplies what are the full and precise terms of the price adjustment arrangement to millers in respect of imported wheat designed to offset any possible increased profit arising from the production of the new flour.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Price-Arrangement With Millers.
The price adjustment has been made by increasing the price of imported wheat allocated to millers by Grain Importers (Éire) Limited by 6/6 per 480 lbs.
Can the Minister say how long it is proposed to continue that price increase, what it will cost the consumer during the period of its continuance, and the gross sum that it may be expected to yield the miller?
The price adjustment will continue so long as the stock of imported wheat continues. It will cost the consumer nothing in so far as there is no alteration in the price of bread and flour, and it will not result in any additional profit to the millers.
Here is an attempt being made to impose a tax of 6/6 per quarter on wheat. I ask the Minister to lay before the House the surrounding circumstances of that tax, and what effect it is going to have on the price of wheaten bread over the whole period of tax and subsidy envisaged. Surely the Minister will agree with me that, on the occasion of imposing a tax of 6/6 per quarter on wheat, some information ought to be communicated to Dáil Eireann as to the nature of that tax?
The Deputy, obviously, misunderstands the position. The price of imported wheat has been increased to millers by 6/6 per 480 lbs. Only a percentage of the wheat used in producing flour is imported wheat. The increase is designed to offset the increased profit which millers would otherwise get due to the extra flour obtained from wheat, but these increased profits, if allowed to operate, would not be sufficient to reduce the price of bread. The alternative, therefore, to allowing the millers to get an increased profit was to collect that profit into the hands of Grain Importers, Ltd., where it will be used for the purpose of preventing an increase in the price of wheat when, later in the year, we are depending solely on Irish wheat.
Does the Minister not think it desirable to communicate to Dáil Eireann and to the country what 6/6 per cental on wheat represents on the sack of flour? Say that it represents 2/- per sack. I suggest that the Minister should say quite openly to the public: "We are going to take that 2/- per sack into the Treasury and use it for the purpose of subsidising flour after next harvest, and because this represents a tax of 2/- per sack on flour to-day it is going to be used for subsidy purposes in the autumn." Now that may be right or it may be wrong, but it is a tax of 2/- per sack on flour. Surely, if the Minister is going to tax flour, directly or indirectly, he ought to take the precaution of giving Dáil Eireann the fullest possible information. If he has not the facilities wherewith to do that now, will he undertake to explain this scheme in detail on some early occasion?
I do not understand the Deputy's difficulty. It has been said in public, and in official announcements, that this additional amount is being taken and is being kept for the purpose of subsidising flour later in the year. That has already been said. There is also this fact which must be kept in mind, namely, that if we did not take this action, if we allowed the price to adjust itself without any action on our part, it would not result in a decrease in the price of bread because, with a farthing, the lowest coin in circulation, there would not be sufficient additional profit realised by the millers to justify a decrease in the price of the 2lb. loaf by a farthing. Therefore, this additional sum, whatever it may amount to in the course of the year, is being kept in the hands of Grain Importers, Ltd., solely for the purpose of subsidising wheat later in the year.
The Minister will agree with me that the effect of this is to tax wheat for the purpose of subsidising flour at a later date.
The Deputy wants to get in the word "tax" for some reason or another.
The Minister will agree with me, if we tax flour now with a view to subsidising flour at some future date, that in those circumstances, in view of the exceptional powers that have been conferred on him and in view of the Taoiseach's solemn undertaking that these powers would never be used for the purpose of imposing taxation, he should take the precaution of communicating this scheme to the House, and of saying that, if this, in the opinion of the House, means a tax on flour now for the purpose of being able to give a subsidy later on, he will do that by legislation so that the House can know the details.
There is no tax on flour.
I deny that absolutely. I say there is a tax of 6/6 per cental on wheat amounting to 2/- per sack on flour. I protest against the Emergency Powers being used for that purpose in defiance of the Taoiseach's honourable undertaking to the House.
The Deputy did not ask any question when he last intervened.
Can we have a guarantee from the Minister that the sum of money paid into this fund will not be appropriated by the Department of Finance to some other purpose?
The Deputy must take note of the fact that the price of bread has been kept unchanged since the war started. How does he think that was done?
That was not the question I asked, but whether the money accumulated, as a result of the collection of this 6/6, would not be appropriated by the Department of Finance to some other purpose.
The Deputy should not forget the fact that I have just mentioned.
What I asked was that the money would not be appropriated by the Department of Finance.
This money is not being appropriated by the Department of Finance and will not go into the hands of the Department of Finance.
And will not be appropriated for any purpose other than that stated by the Minister?